Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One

What it is

This is a satirical piece written by Benjamin Franklin in 1773 and published in a London newspaper. It is part of a group of his comic and ironic writings sometimes called the Bagatelles. In it, Franklin pretends to give a British minister serious advice on how to anger and lose the American colonies.

Why it matters

Franklin wrote the piece to criticise Britain's colonial secretary by listing, as if approvingly, the very policies that were actually alienating the colonists. It shows Franklin using humour and irony as political weapons at a moment when tensions between Britain and its American colonies were rising sharply, not long before the Revolution.

Look closer

• Why might satire be a more effective or safer way to criticise a government than a direct complaint?
• What does the reversed, 'ironic advice' structure require readers to understand to get the joke?
• What does this piece tell you about Franklin's views on British rule just a few years before independence?